A colleague returned from her son's parent-teacher interview frustrated. Her children attend a “well-off” school, with community support, that serves a large number of middle-income families. In contrast, the school she teaches at serves many low-income families.

She complained that her children's school was too 'safe'. They weren't striving to be better but instead choosing to maintain the status quo. Students used computers for one week to do word processing; literacy strategies were 5-10 years out of date and nowhere in their program were they 'cutting edge'.

To the casual observer, this was an exemplary school. Test scores were high, students learned, parents were happy and highly engaged. Her frustration wasn't with performance but the loss of potential. She knew they could be doing so much more, but weren't. This was a school that could try new things, take some chances and excel, but instead they stayed safe. She didn't understand it.

It's a common refrain heard in education. Why don't things change faster? Where is the innovation in schools? Last week a parent complained that schools are only willing to innovate about things that don't really matter (e.g. balanced school day). Where are the new approaches to teaching and learning?

It's a common refrain heard in education. Why don't things change faster? Where is the innovation in schools? Last week a parent complained that schools are only willing to innovate about things that don't really matter (e.g. balanced school day). Where are the new approaches to teaching and learning?

Fortunately, innovation is a highly discussed topic. Experts explain how to enhance innovation and agreed that to foster innovation we need to create an "innovation culture".

As Dr. Robert Langer, head of the highly innovative and creative Langer Lab at MIT said "Very often when you are going for real innovation you have to go against prevailing wisdom". Best practices mean that Canadian educators are discouraged, and in some cases forbidden, from going against prevailing wisdom. Curriculum gurus insist they know best, and tell educators what to do in classes they've never seen and are thousands of miles away.

Best practices mean that Canadian educators are discouraged, and in some cases forbidden, from going against prevailing wisdom. Curriculum gurus insist they know best, and tell educators what to do in classes they've never seen and are thousands of miles away.

The question we must answer is how can we create a culture of innovation in Canadian schools? How do we encourage innovation in an education system that is increasingly conformist, politicized and risk averse?

The question we must answer is how can we create a culture of innovation in Canadian schools? How do we encourage innovation in an education system that is increasingly conformist, politicized and risk averse?

Here are three places where the seeds of innovation exist and where, if supported and nourished, educators can develop new ideas that, once proven, can be safely transferred to the educational mainstream. Places where mainstream education can go looking for practices and approaches that work better than what we are currently doing:

Independent Schools: I am not referring to traditional conservative private schools (e.g. Upper Canada College) but schools organized around a pedagogy or philosophy. Montessori methods have survived and grown in independent schools and are now entering the mainstream. Schools such as Calgary Science School or Quest University are current examples of independent schools that are innovative leaders.

First Nations Schools: A system in crisis that sits outside of provincial oversight is perfectly positioned to innovate. The existence of a separate native culture justifies 'challenging the prevailing wisdom' about education, and educators in remote locations should have the freedom to try new approaches. Chief Mathews Elementary in British Columbia is a great example of this in action.

Low Performing Schools: Schools where traditional methods aren't working because of poverty or culture, where students aren't learning, are prime breeding grounds for innovation. Educators who want to innovate should be flocking to these schools to try new approaches. A great example of this is an approach taken at Inner City High in Edmonton using rapping to educate disengaged students. There are lots of other examples.

n.b.: A Teaching Out Loud Podcast featuring Andrew Campbell is available HERE

Each student has made a personal commitment to attend school regularly, and participate in all components of the program: academics, service work, adventure learning, personal and social growth learning as well as career exploration through placements and career counseling – learning that impacts their growth as a whole individual. The high degree of student success is attributed to the program model, which challenges youth to strive for excellence and build internal resiliency skills. happy birthday

I think you're being a bit unfair to "traditional conservative" independent schools like Upper Canada College. While I can't speak to UCC, I think if you checked out Bishop Strachan's approach to problem-based learning or Greenwood College School's experiential program or my own school's approach to 1:1 collaborative technologies you'd see innovation, creativity and a definite lack of conservative outlook on the educational process. In large part the independent school community gets overlooked by being typified as crisp-white-collars-stuffy but you'll find it an innovative place that's open to sharing and growing together.